We wanted to keep this plugin, must admit we thought it was a part of the StudioPress system, but if it is in fact no longer that is there any reason that switching to another plug-in could be detrimental to the function of StudioPress or our theme?

I'm using Jetpack's Twitter widget (which is basically the widget you get from Twitter.com). I was able to customize it to eliminate the border between tweets, make the background transparent, and get rid of the scrollbar and I actually like it better because of the built in functionality (ex: people can favorite or retweet your content or @ mention you without leaving your site).